


The Anvil of Dawn

by Starlix



Category: Legend of Spyro, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Lovecraftian, Psychological Horror, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24066865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starlix/pseuds/Starlix
Summary: Legend. A term that often gives the image of heroes of the past, individuals that changed the world with their bravery alone. These tales often fail to tell the whole story, the story of the suffering and trials these heroes often go through in order to protect the others. Spyro, a child who's inclusion in this war was merely coincidental, one that robbed him of his innocence. Cynder, a dragoness who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and for this sad infraction, was forever scarred, physically and mentally. The unlikely duo have become living incarnations of the word legend.Each test was harder than the last, Malefor took the total sum of all their strength. However not all tests are the same, and this trial, this final test is one they could never have prepared for.
Relationships: Cynder/Spyro the Dragon





	1. Chapter 1

The night sky was a daunting thing. So silent and massive, gazing back with an image of the entire universe. Waiting within, a nest of bright lights and images of the galaxy they found themselves in. Such an image in reality was so much more incomprehensible to beings who lived on the tiny rocks within them. Who were we to think we could truly fight something as ancient as this, ancient as time, ancient as eternity. It was impossible.

Along the walls of a large city, the lone figure gazed upwards, pondering the great mystery that was her existence. Lately these thoughts had been coming more often and it unnerved her greatly. The night felt at home, the darkness her element, and the night sky seemed as if it wanted to rebuke that claim. To state that she was foolish to think that this impossibly large realm belonged to her and to her alone. Sighing, the figure flopped onto her back.

The dragoness lay on her back, staring ahead blankly, her wings splayed out, magenta membranes glowing slightly. Onyx black scales lined her slender body, appearing rather hard to spot in the dark evening. A belly separated smoothly into three plates, the same color has her expanding membranes heaved has a deep breath flowed from her. Piercing, glowing emerald eyes gazed out at the taunting sky, while the pale moonlight caused the markings across her head and under her eyes to glow faintly. Closing them for a few moments, she tapped her claws against the rough stone walls she found herself on, deep in thought.

Peace seemed truly elusive tonight. What was she doing out here? She knew she should be asleep, but it wasn’t a particularly peaceful night. The horrors that marred her mind plagued her, nothing terribly unusual, however their intensity had seemed tripled this night. And so she sat, a near silent sentinel in the one place she felt truly calm. The peace and quiet of the night.

And it taunted her.

It was rather ironic, she thought. How her entire life since being freed she had attempted to throw off the shade that her enslavement by Malefor had cast upon her. Yet her peace was in the night. In the place where most dare not tread. She had tried her very best to remove the plague that seemed to follow her, yet in the area where it was born did she feel at ease.

The dragoness sighed once again. Rolling to her side, she cast her gaze over the battlements, eyes roaming absentmindedly over the untouched meadows and rolling hills. She didn’t feel as if this was her doing however, for she could see the scars where they truly lie. Hidden by the grass and dirt, thousands lay dead on this field, thousands that she helped kill. Swallowing the hard lump in her throat, the female broke her gaze, finding it increasingly difficult to see.

To each side, the walls remained empty, most unlit except for the ever present lights and life from the city behind her. Despite the renewed proximity to her kind, the touch of Malefor still cut deep to the bone, and so she strayed away. They probably wouldn’t care to converse with a murderer after all.

Running a claw over her chest, the dragoness felt the renewed pain start again. It had been 3 years since they had blasted the one that did this to her to the very core of the planet. That had felt more gratifying than she would ever admit. The feeling of working seamlessly alongside her purple partner to bring that monster even just a fraction of the justice he deserved only further tapped into her raging bloodlust towards him. When he had finally been bested, she had been ready to die, thrown to the center of a cracking planet, what else could she expect.

But then he saved them. Spyro.

For a moment, she smiled, a passionate, heartfelt smile crossing her previously scowling muzzle. The purple savior that her people looked up to. He had been the one to free her from her horrible enslavement, to save her from...her. Even now she felt that trust and understanding she had felt from the beginning, the only one who ever really had shown her that.

At first, this newfound trust had only increased her guilt. Every scar that had marred his young body had been caused by her, and her alone. Even now, older as they were, the scars remained, alongside the trove of new ones that had marred him. And just like that, the peace was broken again.

She had hoped after she had pulled him out of that core once the shattering planet had been rebuilt anew, that they could find peace, be it death or life. She knew which one was more likely to find her and which would find him. She wasn’t dead yet, but they had been closer than ever before in the last few years. Peace had only momentarily reached the pair, as well as the world as a whole.

Their power invited challenge. Them being alive brought challenge to the surface, new, deadlier opponents that would do everything possible to reach the victory they craved so badly. Her gaze was drawn to the long jagged scars that traced the tops of each of her forearms, along with a myriad of other smaller marks from past struggles.

She supposed that the scars brought a new sense of strength with them. Among the agony and death, they had become stronger, more whole. The broken truly were the strong in the new state of the world she found herself in. Only those who had been shattered knew just how to be able to bite back. The world they were in started to view them differently. It was slight at first. After the second time the city had been sieged by wayward species, the many that had been slaughtered by her claw all those years ago.

The citizens already viewed her with wariness or outright hostility, but it got so much worse after the continual outcries against her. Fear was an emotion she often felt, even if she hid it well, but this was a threat she couldn’t kill, couldn’t stalk until paranoia made it weak. In fact, paranoia made it more deadly, more vicious. When demands for her head started to be made, something had to break.

That was the first time she left. The guilt, the fear, the anguish, it all overwhelmed her. The breaking point she had been nearing had snapped. In a panicked blossom of red energy she had split across the sky, channeling wind to breakneck speeds, she exceeded the city walls in under a second and sped out into the darkness, nothing but immediate survival on her mind.

Alone, she felt happy, a bittersweet emotion in her eyes. She craved the acceptance from those around her, yet they cared not for her redemption. To them she was nothing more than a burden, a scapegoat, a murderer. The tears stung, and the words hurt more than the claws that they often swung at her.

When all seemed lost, he would always come for her. Holding her gently as she sobbed in pain, agony in her heart, the blisters in her soul. The trauma was holding her back, she knew she should shed it, for Spyro cared not for the world when it hurt her deeply. She truly understood that night what it meant to be soulmates, to find one that truly understood your pain, and the one who couldn’t bear to see it consume you.

As the night dragged on and he whispered sweetly to her, she could hear what he did not show. The slightest quiver in his voice, the most subtle unsteadiness in his motions. This was wearing him thin, for that she could see, almost as if it were painted on his scales. The purple dragon refused to show his scars to a world that cared not for them and only for an idol.

She couldn’t remember how long they stayed up that night, or how long it was before he himself broke and sobbed against her shoulder. The two young dragons sharing in the agony of a world that could not understand them. For they were always destined to carry this burden. Those that carry the world on their shoulders are often most sighted to its problems.

Spyro was her rock, the one thing in her existence that held her aloft. After her thirst for revenge against Malefor had culminated in his death, the single sole purpose for existence had shifted. The purple dragon that had torn her from the grasp of that abomination had been just as negatively affected by it as she had, though he didn’t show it. The happy, gentle Spyro that was her Spyro had not changed, but he was as scarred as was she.

Something truly crossed her mind that night. All along she had thought that she was doing this to get rid of Malefor’s chain that had bound them, but the second she felt it’s removal, her life had been drifting. Now all she wanted to do was hold on for dear life, and to make anyone that try to do her harm feel hellfire, and to make those who would do it to Spyro feel it twice over. That night, she made a promise to herself. She would do what she always did, the one thing that made her more of a dangerous opponent than anyone but Spyro himself.

For once, she could call herself something and feel sure. She wasn’t a hero. She wasn’t a martyr.

She was a survivor.

Cynder, the black dragoness, former Terror of the Skies, would never again feel the darkness envelop her heart. No matter the pain, no matter the trial, no matter the injustice done against her, she would persevere. Broken and shattered, but at the same time imposing and indestructible. Invincible, but not immortal.

Back on the wall, she broke from her memories, once again feeling the purpose she had always had in the back of her mind. No matter the call, she would answer it. To owe it to her species, to owe it to herself, she would live on. Never again would she be a puppet and never again would she run.

Turning back to the city, she didn’t feel the bite of the horrors that haunted her waking mind. If they returned she would fight, as she always had. She would endure as she has endured. With a gust of wind, Cynder spread her wings and blew into the night sky, flying for her room.

The night above her stared back, unmoved.

*

Sunlight filtered into the room. The curtains, partially pulled to the side let the gentle rays of golden light flow into the room unobstructed. Along with the rays of soft light, the gentle chirping of birds and the occasional quiet conversation from the streets below filled the air. The peaceful atmosphere remained. This didn’t last long for a dragon currently facing the window, muzzle propped up on a nest of blankets and pillows.

Growling lowly when the light flicked across his closed eyelids, the purple dragon rolled over slightly, clutching at a foreign object in his nest. A low, peaceful moan reached his ears and his eyes opened groggily. Laying, pressed up against his side, was his black scaled companion.

"Mmmm...Cynder...what are you-” Spyro trailed off, confused. They didn’t share a room, yes they were courting, but they still kept their own rooms. Despite this, she would often sleep in his room to help appease both of their nightmares. The other’s comfort usually was enough to stave off the nightmarish visions or at least provide a shoulder to cry on when they came back in full force.

She didn’t respond, instead curling up against his chest more. For a moment he was stricken by the adorable pose she was in. Her head pressed up against his neck, paws curled against his chest, snorting in her sleep every once in awhile. Grinning softly, he wrapped his wings around her and slowly rolled over, pulling her onto his chest, with him on his back. The black dragoness remained asleep, kneading her claws against his chest gently.

He smiled, reaching over for a pillow and moving it behind his head, careful not to penetrate it with his horns. Propping it behind him, he stared down at his dragoness, slowly rubbing his paws down her sides, listening to her soft purrs. His smile drooped slightly at the sight of the many scars marring her perfect scales. The lines of scarred flesh were varying in length and size, some, like the horrific wounds to her forearms were particularly nasty. Others were smaller, ranging from the size of his claw, to the thin lines running all the way down her barrel and to the base of her tail.

Gazing at his own body, as much as he could see that wasn’t obscured by sleeping dragoness, that was, he didn’t fail to notice his own battle scars, marring his armored belly scales. They had been in some...bad times. The dragon growled to himself softly. He blamed himself for some of them, carelessness had gotten them into some trouble. He didn’t think of himself as arrogant, he knew he was often too selfless for his own good, but his stubbornness often led to him taking his own word over others.

Spyro had been fighting since he was a child, something that others had often used to get what they needed. It wasn't often he got a break, his near supernatural fighting ability more than a match for nearly anyone alive.

A sudden thought jumped into his head. Well, the only one he could really say who was even was currently snuggling on his chest, fast asleep. A low rumble built in his throat. This morning had been perfect, a rarity these days. They would often return back to the city with a fresh set of injuries and stories to tell without much time to themselves, sometimes a day or two of leave.

Their young bodies hadn't grown much since the battle with Malefor, and it wasn't expected they would hit the next growth spurt for a few years, when they were in their late twenties, something the eighteen year old dragons didn't want to worry about. While their size may have only increased by nearly a foot in both directions, him and Cynder had only trained and fought harder, their combined strength making up for their youthful size. Despite this, they both had an average height of about five and a half feet, still slightly above average for their age.

Things didn't look to be getting better, so the new height and weight was appreciated.

He would’ve never guessed that freeing the world from Malefor’s shadow would cause the planet to still be in the shade. It never really got to him too bad. The only way is forward, that’s what he had always been taught growing up. His adoptive dragonfly parents had been adamant about him keeping a positive attitude in spite of his differences growing up. Being ten times the size of everyone tended to cause some wariness towards the village’s resident dragon.

His thoughts past this point just seemed to drift and come quickly. The light gradually got more bright as the sun rose in the sky. This was to the ire of a certain sleeping dragoness, who began to shift in response to the sudden heat on her face.

“Turn the damn light off.” She mumbled into her nest of purple scales as she buried her head. He laughed, feeling the normally independent dragoness use him like an oversized pillow.

“I’m afraid being purple doesn’t give you that benefit.” he stroked her head with a paw, running the tips of his claws over her ivory horns. The dragoness just grumbled and wriggled in his embrace. Her wings shuffled over her back, splaying around her form.

“Well, I’m gonna have to court a dragon that can instead then, I suppose.” She raised her head and eyed him evilly, her tail tip swishing back and forth.

“Ouch, you trying to injure me you little devil.” He smiled softly at her jab. She yawned before laying her head back down, gazing into his purple irises. Her jade eyes sparkled in the golden light of the sun and he felt his breath take for a moment.

Noticing his sudden infatuated gaze, she chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Males.” She growled playfully. “All it takes is a bat of an eye to make you lose your head.” She wriggled free from his grip, and he reluctantly complied. Her eyes, still slightly groggy from sleep looked fuller than usual, like some energy had entered them.

“Only your eyes, Cyn.” He spoke softly, leaning over and nuzzling her gently. She returned it without hesitation. She stretched widely, splaying her wings out and giving a satisfied groan. She turned to him, when he stared at her, expression unreadable.

“C’mon purple boy, get up, let’s get ready for the day.” She turned around halfway, before turning her head and eyeing him from the corner of her eye. He paused for a moment, deciding if she would smack him if he made a less than appropriate comment on the dubious intent of her words. 

Common sense won out.

“Of course Cynder.” He got to his feet, stretching his body in a similar fashion as she had. She pushed open his door, her sharp tail blade disappearing around the corner of the door frame by the time he had started moving.

The teasing dragoness wiggled her hindquarters at him as he raced to catch up with her. Falling in step beside the black dragoness, he turned to see her smirking at him out of the corner of her jade eyes. His own eyes narrowed.

“You’re being awfully playful this morning.” He raised a brow at his ebony companion. She merely laughed.

“I’ve just been feeling good today, that’s all.” She leaned over and licked his cheek, before grabbing his left paw in her right. “And I’ve got you with me.” He blushed, the dragoness was cuddly when she was feeling depressed, but she was never really this affectionate before. Her independence seemed to shine through in this state however.

It was the little things he noticed, she held her head higher than normal with a bright smile that he rarely saw from her. For the first time in a while she seemed truly...happy. Her smile was infectious and he turned to gaze into her eyes as well, smiling fondly.

Suddenly she stopped and looked around, eyeing her surroundings anxiously. Spyro stopped as well and cast a nervous look at her. “Cynder?” He asked, bewildered.

“I was expecting a certain little gnat to interrupt our moment.” She smirked at him and resumed walking. Spyro laughed and fell back with her.

“Well, he’s back at home visiting Mom and Dad, no need to worry.” Punching him good naturedly on the shoulder, she snickered.

“Why don’t we go give him a surprise.” She grinned slightly evilly at him. Eyes widening at the suggestion, he raised a paw to his chin.

“What did you have in mind?” He asked with more than a little bit of an idea about her intent. The once toxic relationship between the two had been tempered to a deep rivalry and Spyro had been witness to more than a dozen of their antics.

“Well, Sparx has always been skittish, and i'm in the mood to get a good laugh. Besides, I'd like to get away for a bit, you know, get some time together.” A light blush played across her face as she gave him a sidelong glance, a gentle expression marring the outwardly stoic dragoness's face. 

He pondered her suggestion as they cleared the entrance to the temple, the home of the governance of the dragon city of Warfang, the Guardians. They had given the pair the next five days for rest and respite, it wouldn’t hurt to take a bit of a siesta. Besides, it had been a long while since he had seen his adopted parents.

Before he could voice his acceptance, a sharp pain racked his right foreleg. Wincing and yelping slightly, Spyro stopped, yanking the foreleg off the ground and bringing it to his belly. Cynder stopped, looking over her purple companion with alarm, before a look of understanding crossed her features. She winced.

“Leg hurting again huh?” She questioned softly, sympathy in her voice. She knew his pain well. Each of them had taken some bad hits in the last three years, their bodies had taken a beating. Red gem treatments helped a lot, but some wounds would never fully heal.

“Yeah.” He murmured lowly, casting a disapproving look at the heavily scarred limb. Carefully placing it back in the ground, he leaned more of his weight to his left. Even the slight motion of his right limb touching ground again caused a lance of pain to spike through it.

He teetered for a moment, before his black scaled companion saddled next to him, leaning on his side to give him support. He muttered a thanks, sighing in pain, the purple dragon flopped back onto his haunches. Cynder took a seat next to him, watching him with a expression mixed with concern and pity.

Bringing up the offending limb, Spyro sucked in a breath. Letting it back out resulted in a frigid blast of icy air that settled over the wounded leg. However unpleasantly the pricking sensation was, the numbness began to spread over the limb after only a minute or two. Pressing it experimentally into the ground, the purple dragon seemed to deem the results acceptable, and got off his rump, Cynder following suit.

“That’s a clever trick.” She commented, eyeing the way he seemed to be walking almost perfectly now. He nodded once before resuming the walk to the outskirts of the large city.

Along the way he grabbed a few Red gems from a vendor, doing his best to ignore the wary glances he kept casting at the purple dragon’s companion. As they neared the edge of the city, traffic began to heat up.

Finding a side alley, the two dragons proceeded up the climax of a building, giving a fantastic view of the tan and white colored buildings that made up the city. Along the horizon, the rapidly climbing orb of orange light cast a beautiful image of pale yellows and sparkling wheat colored plains, grass shimmering in patches outside the walls. Taking in a deep breath of the fresh air, Spyro wandered to the edge of the tall building, casting a glance down, before falling backwards off the 200 some foot tall spire, letting gravity take him.

A rush of exhilaration flew through him. Shouting in joy, he cascaded through the narrow openings in the buildings, flapping his wings and quickly gaining speed as he reached the city walls. A screech of wings behind him nearly sent him tumbling from the sky.

Using a finely channeled current of wind, Cynder flew right past him, soaring into the sky, Spyro hot on her heels. Flapping her wings every so often, the dragoness’s sleek body shot through the clouds, a smile on her muzzle, teeth showing. Spyro couldn’t help but admire her form, she really was meant for the air. Sleek legs, beautiful wings, a lean form perfectly adapted to her. He gave a toothy grin, greatly pleased that this view belonged to him and him alone.

Sensing his staring she look back at him as she slowed to a hover, the both of them several hundred feet above the ground. “What are ya staring at there Spyro?” Her tone took on a lightly teasing one, the timbre just barely playing beneath her gruff voice.

“Heh, nothing Cyn, nothing.” She rolled her eyes and gave a fake huff and turned to admire to landscape spanning around them.

“I know things have been spiraling down again, but at least Avalar is still just as beautiful.” She had a content smile on her face as her emerald orbs took it all in. Green rolling hills and forests with small streams going through and around them as far as the eye could see. A long ways off, the familiar shapes and colors of the mushroom forest. The muddy browns and faded reds contrasting greatly with the vibrant greens.

He noticed she winced a little as they lazily took off in the direction of the large mushroom forest. Her wings, tattered and torn in multiple places were a little too damaged to fly on their own. She made light of this disability by channeling streams of wind to keep her moving. However, it must have hurt to flap the tattered appendages for too long.

She didn’t comment on this however and so they continued on for as long as the day would hold. Nothing of interest came up the rest of the day, and the two made their journey mostly in content silence, only having a few conversations within the day. The forest and trees passed quickly, going from a lush green to a slightly darker version of the color as the hours passed.

Daylight fell over the next few hours, the dragons making a quick stop around midday to hunt before shooting back into the sky and resuming the flights well into the evening. An hour or two after the last ray of sunlight had fallen over the horizon. And the pair decide now was the best time to end their flight and rest their sore and aching bodies.

Resting by the fire, the two dragons sat down, side by side against the chilly night. Firewood had been easy to find, and a simple bark of flames from Spyro gave the pair a bit of warmth against the Avalarian winter night. Not much was said between the two, both rather exhausted from the day’s long flight.

Just as Spyro began to doze off, Cynder jerked away from him, getting to her feet rather quickly. He groaned, still rather sleepy and not liking the cold air suddenly brushing against his scales.

“Cyn?” He questioned groggily. She looked back at him sheepishly.

“Gotta go...uh...take care of business.” She smirked and jerked her head to the brush around them. Cheeks faintly glowing a light red, he cleared his throat and nodded, somewhat embarrassed. She just snickered and walked off into the woods a little ways.

Turning his gaze back to the fire, the dragon lay down on his side, stretching a bit, before closing his eyes and turning his head a ways from the fire. With the warmth of the flames combined with the soft clicking of crickets and crackling of fire, he began to doze off a bit.

*

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but the sleepiness in his system left him instantly when he felt it. The air was suddenly stale, foul, horribly wrong. Raising his head sharply, the purple dragon scrambled to his feet, whirling around. His instincts were suddenly on high alert and he had no idea why. The forest seemed darker and the fire was gone. A cold, unnatural chill raced across his spine, and the darkness of the forest was closing in on him.

That's when he heard it. A deafening, terrified scream rang out through the woods. Despite it possessing a haunting tone he had never heard before, he recognized the voice instantly. His heart stopped for a second, then paws scraped the ground and he was in motion.

“CYNDER!” He yelled the name louder than ever before, an unfathomable fear coursed through him, something sickening. The woods began to close steadier and his heart raced, harder, and harder.

Something was very wrong. The dragon couldn’t hear anything. After the scream the forest had gone completely silent. He could barely make out the crunching of twigs under his paws as they cut into the ground. He ignored the sharp pains as rocks cut into his sensitive pads, only worrying about finding his companion.

His vision was getting fuzzy, the darkness ever consuming more of his line of sight. He began to hyperventilate, forcing more air than he should into his lungs. The air got more toxic and suddenly his world spun.

He resisted the urge to vomit. Collapsing on his side, he was acutely aware of a horrific gurgling, sloshing sound coming from deeper in the woods. The sound wasn’t something from this reality could make, it reverberated in his skull, driving him insane. He screamed, clawing at his head, violently tearing a gash or two in his scales.

The Sound was followed by a smell. Pungent didn’t even begin to describe it. His stomach heaved, but he couldn’t vomit. He couldn’t breathe. The nightmare was just getting started however.

With an exploding roar, the forest suddenly became alive. That accursed sound coming from everywhere. It was surrounding him, all consuming. The monstrosity didn’t have a form, it was just raw terror and torment. The earth below him moved, tendrils caressing along the purple dragon's scales. Eyes widening, but unable to move, unable to thrash, unable to scream, the earth turned into something else.

It felt like sticky, slimy flesh encompassing his own. The sound was full force in his ears, the unholy gurgling followed by a terrible sound of tolling bells and exploding horns. Blood vessels in the purple dragon’s eyes ruptured, turning his eyes a muted red.

As everything reached a breaking point, it suddenly stopped, and pain was then all Spyro knew.

He found himself able to move, able to scream, able to cry and vomit and bleed.

Red hot agony exploded in his hind legs, and he screamed his throat raw. Bending his neck, and hearing a disturbing set of popping noises accompanying it, the dragon groaned and nearly went out cold as he surveyed the damage that thing had caused.

Both of his hind legs were ripped open, scales littering the ground everywhere around them. The wound was cut right down to the bone, which were split in half cleanly. The legs themselves were holding on by a few strands of tough muscles. Through the pain, the puss and heavy bleeding was making it harder to keep his head up.

Gasping as the lances of agony redoubled, Spyro gritted his teeth and reached for the satchel that had fallen off during his wild dash into the woods. It lay a few feet away, it’s precious contents of red gems already spilled all over the grassy forest floor. He wasn’t even sure how much they would do an injury like this, but he hoped they would at least keep him from bleeding to death.

Each time he pulled his limp body along, he prayed to the ancestors that the muscles in his back legs didn’t snap off and leave him completely crippled and dismembered. It took a minute, but he dragged himself along the forest floor towards the life saving gems. Reaching out with a paw shakily, he smashed the gem and felt it shards began to do their work.

Looking back, he saw that the bleeding had indeed mostly stopped, and a few strands of muscle had begun to reattach themselves, but the injury was still extremely bad and needed attention. He felt fear worm it’s way into his adrenaline fueled mind. How the hell was he going to get to help this far out in the wilderness? There was no way he was flying, not when the speed and air resistance could sheer his limp hind legs off so easily.

Maybe Cynder could give them some form of smooth jet stream. Wait…

“Cynder!” He croaked out, his throat acting like it hadn’t worked in years. He swallowed hard, calling her name out once again and getting no response. He tried to scream, but his throat refused to cooperate. Only on his third attempt did he hear something.

A rustling, heaving sound coming from the woods where he thought he heard her scream. Preparing for the monster that did this to come back, the dragon summoned what little strength he had left, and forced his forearms up and under himself.

However, instead of something terrible, out came the dragoness. Her ebony scales were bloodied slightly and her eyes puffy and red, but otherwise alive. When her eyes found his, she nearly collapsed. He was horrified when she limped into the small clearing he lay in.

Her sides were a shredded mess of flesh and scales, through some of the deeper cuts, her rib cage was partially visible. Seeing her immense struggles and pain, he grabbed a gem and tossed it her way. The black dragoness barely caught it, stumbling as her wounds bled all over the ground.

The flow was stemmed partially when she crushed it in her jaws, unable to lean far enough to place it down without exacerbating her wounds. She moaned as some of the pain left her body, yet she still struggled to get to him. “Spyro…” She whispered, so quietly, that he more saw the movement of her mouth as opposed to any words being said.

“I know….” He croaked. “I know.”

It was back.

With a jolt, he felt the air change once again, however this time they were together, and they refused to be caught off guard again. It seemed to close in faster this time. The smell coming almost instantly following that terrible gurgling sound. And then they saw it.

In an instant, their world turned to lava and fire.

Words didn’t describe its form. The mass of flesh with a thousand eyes and a thousand mouths stared deeply into the two dragons. In the distance the bell tolling rang, louder and faster this time. The being seemed to follow them, looking the same as the two’s heads moved in different directions.

Cynder broke from her terror induced trance first, gnashing her jaws in sudden anger. Her maw was suddenly engulfed in bright purple fire as convexity crawled to the surface. The being seemed to contemplate this for a second as it stopped writing and the noises slowed, the constant gurgling and ringing of bells.

Then it’s force tripled. Spyro nearly blacked out, his head felt like it was exploding, but he did his best to conjure up convexity in desperation as Cynder had. This seemed to enrage it further. It’s mass began circling them more now, forming a tight circle around the two huddled dragons.

Just when it was within a foot of touching them, Cynder screamed, the action sounding wet and deranged, unnatural and demented, like that of a cornered animal at the limits of it's sanity.

“NOW!”

Two beams of convexity impacted the tightly condensed coils of mass just as they seemed to jump out at the two wounded dragons. With a force greater than any they had ever felt, the beams tore through the being. From the ashes, a sharp tidal flow of energy rushed at them.

Ashy, dark grey light poured from the wounds, washing over them with the intensity of a tsunami.

Spyro felt like he was drowning, and to his right Cynder seemed to be in a similar state. Gradually the forest began to light up and the bell reached a fever pitch of heavy intensity. Within seconds, he was overwhelmed and with a feeling like his skull had just imploded, Spyro blacked out.

*

*

Cynder jolted upright, breathing raggedly. She closed her eyes and groaned when she felt the effects of a splitting migraine break through her skull. Sitting back on her haunches, she heard the sound of a chain pulling roughly on her. Tilting her head back, she realized she was chained by her neck to a wall. Cynder's breath hitched rather violently, eyes widening in a primal sense of fear.

Upon further inspecting she noticed that the chain was unlike any metal she had ever seen. It was white and seemed to almost glow. In fact the whole rest of the room was a painfully bright white color. A twinge of numbed pain coursed through her sides.

Surprise flooded her as she looked down at her barrel and found that the majority of the wounds had been expertly patched up, the fabrics showing large red stains however signified that the effects of the red gems must have worn off by this point. It’s been a while then.

Unhappily, she realized that she was once again stuck in a cell, chained to a wall. If she hadn’t been so exhausted she probably would’ve panicked and busted anything on her attempt to get out of this prison. However, she was weak and still adrenalized from her and Spyro’s run in with that abomination.

The thought of her purple companion brought a sense of worry immediately to the surface. His injuries had looked nasty, she prayed to the ancestors that whoever patched her up did the same for him.

A steady clipping sound echoed down the hall, bringing her attention upwards. She forced her weak body to respond, moving into an uneasy combat stance. Her tension escalated as the sound grew louder, her nerves still hopelessly frayed. A few seconds passed, though they felt like hours, and Cynder felt like she was about ready to jump out of her scales.

It stopped outside the door, just out of view.

What rounded the corner was not what she expected.

A quadrupedal purple...thing. Covered from head to...hoof in lavender fur, a horn emerging from the center of her head. Bound across her back were a pair of large feathery wings. It looked at her, seemingly only mildly surprised to find her awake, but more surprised at how she already able to move as she was.

Cynder was confused, this creature didn’t seem the least bit threatening. She dropped her guard for a moment and couldn’t stop herself from speaking. “Who...Who the hell are you?”

It pondered her for a moment, before speaking.

“I’m Twilight, and I saved your life.” The creature spoke softly, staring at her with a mixed expression of pity and slight anxiety. Cynder wasn't too shocked to feel the latter emotion given her tarnished reputation, but the former came as a surprise.

"Where's Spyro?" She demanded, keeping her defensive posture. The equine didn't seem very surprised by her angry tone, but her eyes narrowed slightly, casting the dragoness a weird look. A wondering look seemed to linger for a moment, before she realized who she was asking about.

"Being kept in a similar condition as you. He was much worse off, we had to keep him in surgery for a bit longer than you." Cynder's eyes widened. Surgery? She hadn't seen the extent of the damaged caused to her purple companion, aside from the gashes around his head and neck. Worry colored her tone.

"Where did you find us?" Her anger was diminished slightly, now filled more with a trembling fear as the nightmare in those woods came back to her. The lavender Alicorn seemed a bit surprised at the question. She tapped her chin and sat back on her haunches, thinking for a moment. Cynder's piercing gaze never left her.

"How much do you remember?" Twilight let her gaze fall back to the dragoness. Cynder's posture fell slightly, a shiver running across her spine. When the dragoness found herself unable to respond, Twilight sighed. "Well, eye witnesses say you and that other dragon suddenly appeared on the outskirts of the Everfree forest, shrieking and firing blasts of purple energy everywhere. You were yelling something about an eldritch demon, while your companion writhed on the ground tearing at his head with his claws." Twilight gave her another pitied look before she continued. "You can understand that you two were not allowed to continue in that condition, we couldn't risk you harming any ponies that happened by you."

Cynder was shocked. She didn't remember that part. The last thing that her fuzzy mind could conjure up was feeling desperation and terror like she'd never felt, when that thing began to close in around them. Convexity followed naturally after that, the unstable energy doing as it always did and tearing apart whatever it hit. Bringing a paw up the her aching skull, she tried to recall what Twilight had mentioned, but all she could get was a vague feeling of fear.

"What happened to you two? We need to know, something like that isn't taken without consideration around here. Monsters aren't too uncommon." Twilight seemed apprehensive, clearly unnerved by the level of violence done to the two dragons.

"Where is here exactly?" Cynder questioned her, a sudden fire born in her voice. When had the world turned so lopsided. In all her ventures she had never encountered anything like Twilight, or that monster in the forest for that matter.

"Equestria." She smiled. "Specifically, Ponyville. More specifically, you're being held in my castle at the moment." Castle? Cynder was starting to get nervous. Was this little equine in front of her some kind of royalty. Looking her over, she certainly gave off that appearance. Her...forearms? She wasn't really sure what to call them, were embroiled in some kind of gold shoe, while a crown adorned by gems sat on her head, resting atop a mane of navy and pink hair.

She certainly had a poppy appearance.

"Now-" Cynder's concentration returned to her captor once she began to speak again. "Who might you be, and I'll ask again, what happened to you two?"

"My name is Cynder." Her suspicions were confirmed true as the pony didn't even bat an eye at her name. They must have been rather far from her home for that name to not carry it's usual stigma and fear. "I'm a dragon."

"Yes, I figured that much, though we often don't see dragons this far away from the kingdom." Cynder was once again confused. What...what kingdom? She didn't voice it however, as she was still unsure of this creature's intent. Best not to give away any weakness. For now she was concerned with gathering information that would help her and Spyro escape.

"I can't remember much of what happened before now." The black dragoness lied. "Most of my memory is still hazy and unclear." If the equine could tell she was lying, she didn't show it. Instead she just sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Figured as much. With the extent of the trauma you two looked to have went through, you mind is most likely washed it all out to protect itself." Looking a bit dissatisfied with the answer, the equine got back to her feet and addressed Cynder once again. "You need to stay here and rest. My apologies for the chain, but we couldn't be sure whether or not you would try to harm anypony once you awoke."

Cynder turned and pulled on the chain. "Can you remove it?" She forced as much submission into her voice as she could choke down. Twilight regarded her for a moment, biting her lip. Nodding once, her horn lit up in a violet glow and surrounded a key from thew bag on her side. Cynder tried to keep a straight face, but felt her knees go slightly weak. These things had telekinesis?

Mouth dry, the black dragoness watched apprehensively as the key floated through the bars before sliding into a lock on the back of her neck. A quick click followed, and the chain slid off, colliding with the ground in a loud clang that made her head pound. Gritting her fangs, the ebony female refused to show it had affected her.

"Guards shall return with a meal and drink for you soon enough." Twilight seemed to gain some cheer into her voice. "Then we will just have to keep an eye on you for the rest of the day and make sure you remain stable, then we shall see about returning you to Dragon territory."

Cynder called out for her just before she rounded the corner. "Wait." Twilight stopped and cast a questioning look over her shoulder. "What are you exactly?" Twilight regarded her strangely.

"I am a pony." She appeared surprised by Cynder's blank look, but when nothing followed her brief explanation, she turned the corner, her hoof steps echoing down the hall, followed by the sound an extra pair of them. Confused, Cynder's mind could only conjure up one thought.

"What the hell is a pony?"

*

Twilight sighed as she trotted into her study. Plopping her saddle bag next to her desk, she pulled the chair up and fell back into it heavily. The last few days had been crazy, even by Ponyville standards. The screaming and flashes of light from the Everfree had culminated in those two dragons appearing on it's outskirts. She hadn't been there herself originally, but she had seen the wounds that had been on them.

Creatures of the Everfree wouldn't hesitate to try and maim what they saw as prey, but dragons? Dragons were an apex predator in their own right. What could've have gotten them to cause such mental and physical damage. Twilight rubbed her skull, thinking back to that day. The energy spike had been felt by every unicorn in Ponyville, something powerful had breached their world. History in Equestria had told of rifts to other worlds and dimensions, but they didn't often drop creatures that existed on Gaia in the first place, if the unusual circumstances around those two were to be connected in that manner.

Those Dragons were enigmas. They didn't have the same appearance and mannerisms, at least from what she could tell with her brief interaction with the female who called herself Cynder. Even under their magic resistant scales, she could feel the power that existed within them. Especially the purple one, she recalled Cynder calling him Spyro, despite being on death's door had an extraordinarily potent power yield resonating within his core. She presumed that was the only reason he survived his wounds to begin with.

It would take a t bit until he awoke, and until then she could't guess the state of his mental health, but she had seen firsthand his delusional screaming. How he tore himself to ribbons and writhed like something was moving through his body. The image was haunting. Rubbing her eyes, she logged the report as best she could, noting the peculiar circumstances leading to their arrival at the edge of the forest, and the strange sounds that were heard from the Everfree the previous night. She didn't want to request help from Equestria's leaders yet.

As much as she hated involving her friends in danger, she was worried that she may have to. Something about this whole situation felt unnatural, otherworldly. For now, she would take the only course of action she felt she could. She would attempt to get as much information from them as she could. The purple one was unlikely to awake for the next few days, in the mean time she would have to gain Cynder's trust.

Something about the dragoness popped out to her. She was somewhat agitated and distrustful, like the many dragons she had met, barring a few. However this felt different. It wasn't malice that seemed to drive her. The enigma that was the black dragoness would be a fun one to solve. Befriending someone like that would be hard, but she never was one to turn down an opportunity to help a soul in need of it.

She laughed to herself. My, have things changed since she first arrived here. Going from an anti social bookworm, to befriending dragons and monsters. After scribbling down the rest of her findings, mainly those relating the state of the injuries and the conversation with Cynder in more detail, Twilight set her tools down and walked to her window.

The setting sun cast a shadow on the ominous shadow of the Everfree forest, looming in the distance. Nothing ever seemed to go right around that cursed place, even now with the Tree of Harmony residing in it. It seemed the woods were just permanently cursed, ever seeking to bring misfortune on those around it. Well it wasn't anything Ponyville, couldn't take. They had fought it all before, there wasn't much that could threaten her friends or her kingdom anymore. She felt the power of the Alicorn within her. And a bright, determined smile broke her lips.

With her friends by her side, nothing from that forest could truly hurt them.

Rainbow Dash, the newly appointed leader of her guard. The Pegasus had really shown her flying and precision abilities. That loyalty made her an amazing guards-mare. Despite her eventual dreams still being set on the Wonderbolts, the mare had felt that a premier job working for the protection of her best friend, and a princess no less, was an offer too tempting to pass up.

Rarity had begun to really expand her skills outside of just those of a seamstress, though a master of her craft she really was. The exploration of the Everfree would be much safer with the money and skilled equipment that Rarity could provide. The generous mare had grown an affinity for specialized orders when it came to clothing, something akin to camouflage would be easy to create.

The raw strength of a strong mare like Applejack was something most creatures couldn't really contend with. The earth pony had a buck that could knock a Manticore down for several hours. Her sense of smell was weirdly unparalleled, nothing would sneak up on them. They would avoid violence as best they could, and having an early warning system in the mare's nose would be key. She considered also bringing Applejack down to meet Cynder next time she visited. The farm pony wasn't a built in lie detector, but she had an odd ability to catch the ticks of those she talked to.

If worse came to worse, Fluttershy could calm down anything that really wanted to make them pay for trespassing. The timid Pegasus might lack the confidence to talk to many of her own species on even terms, but her way with members of other species was unparalleled. For one, nothing could really get past her Stare if it came down to that. Whatever weird voodoo magic lay behind it, it did it's work as a paralysis and semi mind control agent. Perhaps that's why she hated using it so much.

And finally there was the party pony, the defiler of natural laws. Pinkie Pie was pretty much a last resort when it came to danger. The pony was a constant source of morale, constantly showering those around her in goodnatured cheer. Nothing would truly be able to break the group's spirit when she was around. The pink mare's habit of breaking natural laws was also half the reason they escaped so many of the dangerous jams that Ponyville often found itself in.

With the group, there was nothing that could break them, they would be invincible, just as they had always been.

"You are mysterious, but I will uncover you eventually. I'm going to love finding you out."

Oh how wrong she was.

* * *


	2. The Long Way Down

The day passed rather slowly to her. Nothing to do, besides wait. Cynder had always considered herself patient, but even that had it’s limits. She was on edge, needed something to do, something that would stop the insistent itch across her scales. She had fought her way through hell multiple times over, killed beings the size of mountains, slaughtered entire armies by herself.

But boredom claimed her faster than any of them would.

Waiting around in this cell, without a clue as to where exactly she was. That...pony... or whatever she called herself had claimed they were in Equestria. Nothing like that had ever rung a bell with her. Despite her tactical awareness of most areas in the realms, a necessary skill she had acquired back when she served Malefor, it was useless as of this moment.

This Equestria had never been on any map she had ever seen. The creatures that Twilight was were even more foreign. Quadrupeds were a bit uncommon, dragons really being the only species in the realms that were not bipeds. So, what were they, and where did they come from? She racked her brain for an answer the remainder of the day, yet nothing came to mind.

This inability to find her answer quickly frustrated the inquisitive dragoness. Without anything to occupy herself and the answers to her questions remaining painfully out of reach, Cynder did the only thing she could think of. She planned.

Despite the seemingly peaceful intentions Twilight had portrayed, Cynder wasn’t so naive to believe that this was the case. Paranoia had saved her more times than she could count, and even though her examinations of the finer details of Twilight’s form leading her to believe that the pony belonged to a herbivorous, physically smaller species, the black dragoness refused to drop her suspicion.

Her own inability to trust had kept her out of danger, and she wouldn’t drop it in the face of these odds. For one, the cage she found herself in was almost perpetually demeaned of shadows. While this would’ve been unsurprising had Cynder been in the presence of someone who knew her past, it seemed unlikely this was intentional.

Why would they deprive her of her ability to shadow split if they didn’t even know she possessed it, then? Well, that was an answer that would be rather difficult to find cleanly. The dragoness made the decision to just wait until Twilight returned before jumping to any extreme conclusions.

Her reluctance to act on her limited information didn’t stop her from coming up with a plan however. The cell didn’t seem to be lit with natural light, and feeling out her control over wind didn’t yield any results. That only meant one thing: something outside of natural light was keeping this place from falling into darkness.

Cynder’s sense of time wasn’t her strongest area, so she wasn’t even sure if it was night yet. Guard shifts gave her no indication either. She hadn’t tried to talk to them, but given what stoicism she could see from her limited vantage point, they may have just refused to acknowledge her either way.

Speaking of Guards, they gave her another bit of data she used to formulate her plan. They were male, if their larger forms and square jaws were anything to go by. They were slightly unnerving, if she could be completely honest. She had observed them for a few minutes straight at one point, and they didn’t blink except for once during a large period of time. She wasn’t sure how they could remain completely motionless either.

The shift had only happened once in what she assumed had been several hours. If she hadn’t been keeping her hearing tuned on the limited breeze that flowed down in what she presumed was a network of tunnels, she would have missed it. If their commitment was anything to go by, their combat abilities wouldn’t be lacking.

Frustration quickly found her again. There wasn’t really much to work with here! Biting her tongue, Cynder halted what would’ve quickly turned into a string of curses that more than likely would have drawn a fair amount of attention that she didn’t want. Sitting down heavily, the stressed dragoness brought a paw to her head and rubbed her eyes, adjusting the steel choker around her neck for a moment.

Well, this was bound to be a long night. Again, without any way of judging time, Cynder quickly fell back into her pacing, opening up every little opening she had gathered from the place she found herself in.

Brute strength wouldn’t get her through those bars, she had pulled on them with the assistance of all her strength, but they refused to budge. Maybe if Spyro was at full strength he could break them, or melt them. Pushing her worry for him to the back of her mind before it could latch onto her, Cynder once again analyzed the entire area of her cell, looking for any weaknesses she could exploit.

A raw punch of convexity would smash through the bars without an issue. However, Convexity was rather volatile and one miscalculation of how much power she was feeding it could blow up the entire tunnel if not the whole damn castle. She would do it if it was her only way out, however she wanted to avoid killing until she needed to. Despite the imprisonment, she would rather avoid just outright slaughtering her captors. She knew she was running out of options at this point. None of her control over her power would allow her out of this cell without killing the guards outside of the door.

Though killing was outside of her to do list, she would resort to it if it meant her and Spyro’s safety.

As the hours passed, a pair of Guards appeared at the entrance to her cell. She eyed them from the corner of the room, noting their every moment. One was carrying a tray with something on it she couldn’t see, a glass of water blocking the view. The other she watched much more cautiously however.

This one was carrying some sort of metal pike. They clearly had access to metal in bulk and had ways of smelting it. She noted this without much surprise. The bolts and screws on her cell were of a firm, strong metal. Ponies clearly had access to a good amount of production and metal supplies. Long confrontation with them would end badly, she couldn’t make herself a long term threat to them.

Direct confrontation was very much unadvised, she surmised, not liking the odds one bit. Breaking from her thoughts, the one carrying the tray slid it through a narrow opening on the top off the bars, using that damned kinesis. That particular ability worked her up more than anything else.

Before she had been broken from Malefor’s control, she had heard that he had been working on plans to control objects with gems, giving the power to the apes so that dragon structures would almost always fail. That scared her, even when she was his slave did she feel that was putting too much trust in the loyalty of the apes that worked for her.

She prayed to the ancestors that this power was much less so in these ponies. Noting the connection that the aura surrounding an object was linked to the same color appearing around the horn of the pony wielding it, she presumed that it was the source of the power. “That is rather fragile, shouldn’t be too hard to break.” She thought grimly.

Clattering on the ground quietly, the tray dropped from the white aura surrounding it. She eyed it warily, somewhat nervous to touch it. Would the aura have some sort of lingering effect on her if she were to touch it? Hell she hoped not, she had enough unknowns to account for right now.

“Eat.” The guard said gruffly, before closing the slot at the top of her cell. Without another word the guards walked off, the clattering of the hooves fading into nothing.

Once they were gone, did Cynder move. Peering around the corner of the doorway outside the cell, she noted that guards from before were still there, unmoving. Snorting quietly, Cynder stepped up the tray, sitting back on her haunches.

Several large blue gems rested on the tray, along with a simple glass of water. Her eyes widened. Where the hell had they found blue spirit gems, and why would they give them to her? Blue spirit gems were something of a steroid for her kind, giving rather potent increases in total power levels. While dragons below the ages of those considered adult were never give them, she and Spyro had encountered them on their mission to defeat Malefor, she was intimately familiar with their extreme value.

She wondered briefly what she was supposed to be seeing on this tray that was edible. Slightly amused at the thought of them thinking that dragons absorbed spirit gems by eating them, she picked one up, before slamming it into the cobblestone floor. The gem shattered as expected, but the shards remained there, unmoving.

Glinting back at her tauntingly, Cynder frowned. “What…?” She pondered quietly, extremely confused as to why the shards weren’t absorbing into her body. Gently picking up one of the tiny bits that had broken off, she glared at it. She couldn’t feel the familiar internal energy that spirit gems contained. Instead the fragment stared back, unimpressed. It felt just like a normal rock.

Rather alarmed by this, Cynder set what remained of the blue crystal back on the tray, grabbing a different one. Repeating the process yielded the same results, leaving the black dragoness rather flustered. Scratching at the metal shackles that adorned her forearms, Cynder fell deep into thought.

Perhaps they had somehow drained the energy from them. Then why would they even give them to her in the first place? Was it supposed to be a taunt, meant to enrage her? Slightly indignant that they could be the case, Cynder set the crystal back on the tray, sweeping idly at the shards with a paw, collecting them into a tiny pile.

The guards simple exclamation from earlier rang back into her head. Perhaps these weren’t actually spirit gems. That still left the unanswered question of why they would expect her to eat rocks. Despite any explanation not coming to mind, the black dragoness just shrugged, shedding her previous frustration.

Realizing just how dry her throat was, the dragoness carefully took the glass in her claws. Tilting her head back, she poured the cool liquid down her throat. Gulping in as much as she could, she was careful to keep her claws wrapped tightly around the fragile glass. Breaking contact for a moment, she caught her breath.

As she went to return the glass to her lips, she accidentally pressed a little too hard. A small crack appeared on the side of the glass. Pausing for a moment, Cynder eyed the crack. Her mind whirled. They had given her...glass. Glass of all things to a prisoner.

The revelation tore through her like a tornado. Were they really this trusting or just very naive? Tilting her gaze up to make sure she was not being watched, Cynder quickly drank the rest of the cold water and set the glass down. She lifted a claw to the glassware, tracing the outline of the small crack.

Spinning the glass around, the dragoness made sure that she had enough area to enact her spur of the moment opportunity. With extreme care, she dug a claw into the glass, watching with unblinking eyes as her claw slowly sunk into it’s surface. The tip of her claw broke through cleanly. Blinking once, relieved that she hadn’t damaged the glass beyond her intended target, Cynder carefully, slowly brought the clean cut upwards to just before the tip of the glass, making a jagged, bladed outline around the top. Again, she creeped her claw down the opposite side of the incision, bringing it to a round curve at the bottom. Making the two incisions meet at the middle, the newly cut shard of glass fell lightly into her open paw.

Hiding what remained of the glass around the large blue gems, she eased the tray back closer to the bars, making sure that her handiwork wasn’t noticeable. It took a bit of doing and a few close calls, but the remains of the glass silently slid around and under a pile of the gems. Taking a step back, Cynder eyed the small shard resting in her open paw. Claws were plenty deadly, but they were not something she could use at range.

Slipping the shard carefully against the upper half of her paw, easing it into place under one of her metal bracers, rounded side out. Once she was sure of it’s stability and that it wouldn’t accidentally slice her, Cynder returned to the darkest corner of the room, biding her time and waiting for her opportunity.

If the lights didn’t dim soon, she would get her and Spyro out of this place, one way or another.

*

It didn’t take very long. Shortly following the next rotation of guards, which to her felt like several minutes, did the lights go. They seemed to fade into black out of nowhere. Ever present light that had flowed from the entirety of the ceiling was suddenly gone. She felt the entrance of her element flow through her, the slight weakness that the constant exposure to the combination of light, stress, and boredom conjuring seemed to dissipate.

Getting up, Cynder silently crept to the edge her cell. Thankfully the Guards hadn’t bothered to check the tray they had given her. Were her captors really that foolish, with a shake of her head at their ignorance, Cynder cast her gaze outwards. The two outside the narrow door to her cell were still facing outwards in the hall, completely oblivious.

Closing her eyes, Cynder tapped into her control over shadows. If one were to look, it was as if she had just vanished. To her eye, she sunk into the floor, the world seeming to flip along with her. In this state, the areas that happened to be lit by torchlight appeared as areas engulfed in darkness, while what was in actuality darkness, was easily visible to her.

Stepping through the bars, the dragoness pondered her next move quickly. Even in this form she couldn’t risk the movement right by the guards, they would feel the cold chill of her form touch them slightly, giving them the idea to maybe check on her. Instead, she spread her influence through the wall diagonally.

Her shadowy form seemed to split into fragments, jumping alongside the top corners of the wall and upon the ceiling. As the shards of shadow moved by unseen, they converged back into a vague inclination of her natural form back down a ways in the hallway, leaving no disturbances in it’s wake.

It seemed her previous theories were right. Her expanded vision told her that hallway was a large square section of hallways with a cell the same as her own on each outside edge of the square, 4 in total, including hers. Her vision into the actual interior of the cells was limited. She would have to look through them the old fashioned way.

Cutting off the semi-clairvoyance before it could drain her already weaker than normal stamina of anything else, she quickly moved down the hall. With care to avoid the occasional torch lighting the hallway, she slid her form down the hall. Not a sound was made, nor a single fluctuation of the natural shadows surrounding her.

Rounding the first corner, she spotted nothing but an empty hall. Presuming that Spyro’s door was guarded in a similar, if not exactly the same fashion as hers, it would seem he wasn’t in the cell on this particular section. Sliding down to the door presented her with an empty cell, devoid of anything other than same rudimentary arrangements as her own.

Interestingly, the far wall lacked the hook and ring that adorned the back wall of her own cell. It would seem that most prisoners down here weren't restrained.

Growling at the inconvenience and the power drain she felt the shadow step having, the sound being rather distorted, Cynder moved through the long hallway at an increased rate. Once again avoiding the torches, the shadowy dragoness crept around the next corner, this one seeming to be slightly more lit than that of the previous one. Wondering at the odd burst of light, she paused. Her initial inspection hadn’t picked up on any patrols, at least none that were lit. Perhaps just a torch closer to the wall this time.

Cautious, she peered around the corner, her billowing form of shadows drawing back in the presence of the light from a torch rapidly approaching her. Nearly at the corner, a guard approached, a lit torch floating in his telekinetic grip. Startled at the unexpected patrol that hadn’t appeared on her first stretch of clairvoyance, the dragoness drew on as much of her element as she could. Though the action nearly rendered her unconscious at the sudden use, Cynder once again broke her form off again, this time into much narrower shards of shadow. She cast herself into the corners of the ceiling, hiding from most of the light.

The pony walked the hallway rather leisurely, and Cynder felt her blood running in her ears. Weakening rather substantially as she struggled to hold the corporeal form, Cynder trembled in her own mind. The instant that she felt she could move, she reattached herself, the nearly invisible billowing shadows coming together once again.

Shakily, she raised a paw to her chest. She was ice cold, though that was to be expected in this state, but her heart was beating rather rapidly and she felt the drain it was starting to have on her was making her shroud contract and fluctuate at an alarming pace. She knew she would have to be careful. Not exiting this form properly could be disastrous, possibly with her ending up partially fused into a wall. Taking a quick breather, she once again rounded the corner.

As expected, there they were. The two cookie cutter cutouts that plagued her door. Groaning silently, Cynder rolled her eyes. Why did they all look the exact damn same? Creeping to within a few feet of them, Cynder made a quick decision. The dragoness’s stamina was already draining, the weakness in her bones becoming more substantial.

Throwing caution to the wind, she sped between the two guards, splitting herself around the bars. Hiding in the corner closest to the edge of the door frame, she held her breath. The guards seemed to feel the cold wind that was her shadowy form. She caught the eyes of one as it took a peek inside of the cell.

It’s gaze didn’t leave easily. Making sure to scan every inch of the room. Doing her best to remain absolutely still, Cynder hoped that she hadn’t been compromised. The guard’s eyes seemed to settle on her corner, a piercing gaze starting directly into her. A moment passed and she felt her nerves about to snap. Before she could lunge from the shadows and silence him however, he turned his eyes back forward with a snort.

Shakily letting out the breath, Cynder faded back in slightly, letting lose some of the tension she had been holding. Bringing a paw up, she checked her body. Seemed everything was in place. Peeking around the corner of the bars for a moment, making absolutely certain she was covered, the dragoness moved slowly.

Stepping from the shadows, she melted back into her standard form. A sharp pain struck her side. Neck turning, her eyes darted down to her right forearm. A thick scrape was torn across the bottom of the limb, bleeding slowly. Wincing, she cursed her incompetence. The process of forming the shadows that contained her form back together was messy, sometimes wounds came as a result of missing a particular spot.

Despite the aching pain, the dragoness was relieved to step from the shadows. The ability was often heavily draining, limiting it’s use. Not much she could do about it, the limits of reality were rather defined. Mother Earth didn’t like having her rules broken.

Sitting back on her haunches for a moment, Cynder brought the opposite paw up to the wound. With a grunt, she clasped the paw all the way around her leg. A moment later a dim green glow pulsed through her claws and back into the covered wound. It only lasted a second, but the weak neurotoxin did it’s work, clotting her blood and erasing most of the sharp stinging almost instantly. Unclasping the limb, she checked her results.

No bleeding, good. Still stung like a bitch to do that though.

Getting back up silently, her attention turned to the limp figure lying at the back of the room. Plodding over grimly, Cynder sat by the figure’s side. He was utterly limp, purple scales seemingly paler than normal. Hesitantly bringing a paw to his side, Cynder nearly collapsed in relief when she felt his natural body heat burning back, however it was noticeably diminished. It was just then that she noticed his condition.

Most of him was covered in thick swaths of white fabric, seemingly mummifying his body. Eyes watering a bit, she rolled him over. Facing her, she could truly see the extent of the injuries covering his body.

His throat was wrapped in bandages, with most of the attention on the sides of his neck. Along the lines of his horns, rows of similar fabric, stained in red, covered most of his head. His closed eyes remained uncovered and for that she was extremely thankful. At least he hadn’t been blinded. Despite the steady breathing, he seemed to be forcing the breaths out a bit, almost as if his throat was partially blocked.

The tough scale plates of his belly and chest were more or less unharmed. A bandage or two stuck to him, most of them on the narrow spots where plate met scale. Nodding once to herself, she was happy that the plates served their intended purpose.

She had to restrict the gasp that threatened to break her cover. His hind legs were mangled, torn to shreds by the looks of it. She couldn’t even make out what was supposed to be under them. The heavy blanket of white prevented a single hint of purple from even shining through. They extended from the tips of his claws about half way up, becoming much less dense around the area where the hindlegs themselves connected to his torso.

It was impossible for her to tell exactly the type of wounds those bandages hid, but the amount alarmed her. It must have been rather bad for this amount of coverage. Her mind wandered back to the conversation with Twilight earlier that day. She had mentioned offhandedly that he had been in surgery longer than she had.

Her injuries were nothing to scoff at either, they certainly would’ve been lifethreathing if she hadn’t been helped. But this was bad, it was a wonder he was even alive. “Another perk of being purple, it looks like.” Cynder thought grimly. The blood loss alone should’ve ended him. Thank the ancestors for the red gems that he had thought to bring along with them.

Bringing a paw up to the side of his face, she cradled it gently. The emeralds in her eyes shined with moisture. Closing her eyes tightly, she leaned down and kissed his snout gently. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry that I even suggested leaving.” The distraught dragoness whispered, almost inaudibly. Her tail fell limp on the ground.

Cradling his head in her paws, she pressed her own against his. Whispering sweet nothings to him, hoping to ease his and her own pain, the black dragoness scooted closer. The feel of his heat brought some comfort to her.

The stress and anger mixed. Fear and worry had made her body feel weak to this point. As she stared at his half-dead body, held limply in her arms, the dragoness felt herself near her breaking point. If she hadn’t suggested they leave for the Mushroom Forest they wouldn’t be in this mess. They would be safe and happy in their room, or enjoying their day together. He would be smiling and laughing, not barely breathing, dying slowly in this unknown place. But instead, they both found themselves horrifically wounded, trapped in a cold, dark prison.

It was too much. Before she felt herself break completely, the dragoness had the foresight to conjure up a stream of concentrated wind. Spreading it quickly across the bars, she filtered any sound from the interior of the cell into the walls, the sound waves unable to get through the condensed stream of wind.

Trembling hard, the dragoness shattered. With heavy sobs, she pulled him closer. Nuzzling into him as pained cries shook her body. Reaching desperately for him, hoping for him to wake, to hold her and tell her it was all going to be fine. Nothing came, and so she, stuck in the cold loneliness, unleashed the full weight of her sorrow, stress, and anger upon her unconscious companion.

Moaning painfully into the air, she whined his name over and over. Careful not to aggravate his fragile form, Cynder drew her tattered wings around him, holding the limp body tightly against her shaking form. Most of the day she had been able to block out the fear, to focus on survival. Now, with him in her grip, mind no longer occupied, she couldn’t take it. Large drops of tears splashed against his head and muzzle as she held him tightly against her.

His weight was heavy, as it was dead weight. Despite the pain growing not only in her heart, but in her forearms and wings, she held on. Afraid to let go. Afraid to be alone. Afraid to lose the only lifeline she had. Every shuddering, heaving breath hurt her lungs. Every sniffle burned her throat.

As she lay there, cradling him, sobbing heavily, the minutes passed slowly. She didn’t care that she was spending too much time here. She didn’t care that she was compromising her entire plan. She just wanted to be secure. Even with him close to death, Spyro was her net, and it felt genuine. Even more so than before, she felt the determination swell. Despair crushed her soul, but she tried to endure. To brave the pain by herself, because for now, she must. She needed him, but now he needed her even more.

She would not leave him here. Even if she died, she would not let him rot in this prison alone.

About another twenty minutes had passed before her eyes began to dry. Feeling rather drained, Cynder sniffled, bringing a paw up to wipe her eyes. Her reddened eyes found his face again. He had not stirred even slightly by her pained shaking and sobbing. Sighing heavily and shakily, the dragoness began to mentally piece herself back together.

Once again idly stroking his face and horns with her claw tips, the dragoness lost herself deep in thought. She had planned on busting him out of here and escaping into the night under the cover of complete darkness. That didn’t seem too possible now. He was not nearly an any condition to move, let alone fight his way out of a castle that was most likely littered with guards.

She herself was feeling exceptionally drained and weak now as well. She couldn’t carry him and fight at the same time. Fear rose within her once more. This entire situation was still an unknown to her. They could be keeping them alive for any number of reasons and she wasn’t yet willing to believe they were doing it out of the kindness of their hearts.

What was their damn motive!

Anger crawled it’s way to the surface, easily finding hold in her frazzled emotions. There was no way out now. They had fallen down a deep pit. What really worried her was that she wasn’t sure if this was the bottom of if they still had a good ways to go. Whatever happened to them was largely out of her control. That feeling really pissed her off.

Suppressing the urge to snarl, Cynder grit her fangs tightly. Caged once again. The feeling of being unable to control her path was one that could easily set her inner demons back out again. Rage was a powerful emotion, and nothing was more enraging to her than being trapped, chained like an animal.

“Never again.” She thought. “Never again.”

Setting Spyro’s head back onto the ground gently, Cynder pushed herself upright. One way or another, she would control this situation. She would bide her time. Regardless of their reasoning, they were healing her and Spyro. They would live their purpose. For now, she would gather as much information about their surroundings.

Assuming that Twilight kept true to her word and revisited her, she would drag every answer out of her as she could. Manipulation of such a naive mind shouldn’t be too hard. If the pony’s intentions were really peaceful and harmless, she would get it out of her. Until then, she would wait. Lie in wait like a predator ambushes it’s prey.

Giving one last longing look at her eviscerated partner, Cynder dispelled the cover of wind soundproofing. Walking up to the bars, she closed her eyes. Channeling what strength she had left, Cynder once again melted into the shadows. The pull came almost immediately. She knew she couldn’t hold this form for very long, the danger was all too severe.

Slipping through the bars, Cynder wasted no time, shooting past the guards. Racing by them, she heard their collective grunts of confusion. She didn’t waste the time to even check if she had been detected. Shadowy paws colliding with hard stone at such a pace hurt, but she pressed forward.

It seemed as if the universe was completely against her tonight. As she neared the corner of the hallway she had first entered from, a very familiar flash of light approached. Unable to simply break her momentum, Cynder split herself off, mashing herself against both walls. Stopped completely, the exhausted dragoness barely managed to pull herself together before a torch bearing pony rounded the corner.

Once more taking off down the corridor away from the harsh light, the dragoness barrelled down the opposite way, just barely moving around torches. The pain of having bits of her shadow melted away momentarily was excruciating. Wanting to scream, Cynder pushed herself on ward. Just missing the ponies guarding the door, the shadows jerked around them, moving at a slowing pace down to the edge of the corridor.

Hearing the start of an agitated conversation, Cynder moved beyond the bend of the hall. She was close now. Tiredly plodding down the torchless hall, she began to feel her consciousness wane. Drawing upon every ounce of spare energy and willpower, Cynder swiftly moved through the corridor.

The complete darkness down this path made it much easier, not having to side step around splotches of torchlight.

The bend came soon enough. Around it, she was greeted by the ever present sight of the white pony guards standing motionlessly outside the entrance to the room which her cell sat.

It didn’t take much effort to get around them, but by this point the workload felt virtually impossible. Slipping between the torch light nearly killed her. Getting around the bars was even worse. However the second she was safely inside the cell, and this time properly put back together, Cynder stepped from the shadows.

Stumbling and falling on her side heavily, Cynder panted quietly. Her limbs felt like they were on fire, a very stark contrast from the ice cold temperature her shadow step caused her to experience. The sharp change in temperature brought along a substantial aching, trembling feeling throughout her body.

Moaning helplessly into the damp cell, Cynder rolled on her side. Scrambling backwards as best she could, the dragoness pressed herself against the farthest wall, the cool temperature easing her body slightly. Bringing a paw up to her chest, the limb shaking as she did, she caught the gaze of a confused guard. She only growled back for a moment. He appeared unimpressed then returned to his forward vigil.

Biting back a string of indignant curses, the female lay herself down, doing her best to calm her rapidly beating heart. The ache in her body seemed to pulse along with the quick strokes of her heart, the blood circulating through her body felt like lava. The feeling was soon replaced by a sense of utter exhaustion permeating every cell of her body.

Grunting uncomfortably, Cynder lolled her tongue out, breath hard, but holding in as much as she was able to. It took some time, but eventually her body began to calm down, attempting to piece itself after the near death of it’s host by overexertion.

Minutes passed and Cynder found herself once again in control of her breathing and shaking limbs. Slowly, her breathing evened and the shake started to level out. Dropping her forearm tiredly, the dragoness laid her body out.

“That was too close.” She whispered to herself. Feeling the exhaustion bearing down on her, Cynder closed her eyes. Despite the breakdown, she felt a bit better just knowing he was alive. For her that was enough. They would be fine, they would survive. She would do what she could from here. With that final thought, the dragoness let her mind go and the exhaustion claimed her.

*

“Spike? Spike!? Spiiiike?” A hollered out, calling for said Spike at around earth shattering decibels. Those around the voice would roll their eyes at the listlessness of the speaker. The calls stopped abruptly however.

Twilight stood motionless for a moment, as if stunned by her own forgetfulness, a rather unusual break of character for her. A moment or two later, the lavender Alicorn sighed and shook her head. “I forgot he’s not here.” She pouted for a moment, a childish frustration appearing momentarily.

Shaking her head, the mare trotted to her desk, retrieving a quill and pen in her magical grip. Scribbling down a list of daily chores, she paced in circles around the center of her rather spacey bedroom, though most would say her head had that room beat on space by a good margin.

“Hopefully he returns from Ember soon, I miss having him around.” She muttered wistfully. His venture back to dragon territory had taken a little convincing on his part. She was still a bit worried about him going back there without her, however Ember had assured her he would be in good hands.

Though, having both of them, particularly Ember would be very convenient right now. She still was little bit unsure of what to do about her two visitors downstairs. She planned on eventually letting them wander once their wounds had healed up, but she was a little worried for the safety of those in Ponyville.

She wasn’t xenophobic, not like nearly all of Ponyville, but she had gotten some rather harsh vibes from the female, Cynder. It may have just been she was stressed by her circumstances, but the dragoness gave off a rather unstable vibe.

Maybe after she conversed with her later would she judge whether or not she needed to contact Ember and have them escorted back. Ember would probably a little annoyed about having to come this far, but it was her subjects that had nearly caused a rather bad incident.

Giving it some thought, Twilight still wasn’t sure what to believe regarding what Cynder told her. The dragoness, aside from her attitude, was a bit of an enigma. Her body was unlike any dragon she had encountered.

Jet black scales, walked on four legs, and bearing more substantial scarring than even some of the nearly primordial dragons she had met. Truly a stranger indeed. But, they hadn’t actually harmed anypony, so she couldn’t keep them locked down there forever. Well at least Cynder anyway. The purple one most likely wouldn’t be moving much for a while.

Making up her mind, Twilight added “Discuss Freedom with Cynder” to the bottom of her schedule for the day. Checking the list and making sure it was up to par, Twilight rolled up the list and stuck it into her saddle bag. Floating the pen back to it’s spot on her desk, Twilight proceeded to her door.

Flipping the lock up, the mare galloped down the long set of crystal stairs, finding the castle empty aside from the two stallions on either side of the front gate. Trotting over to the massive archway that served as the front door, she greeted the guards with a friendly smile. Each of them nodded silently in unison, keeping their normal stoic posture.

Rolling her eyes at their serious behavior, Twilight pushed the gate open, to which each of the stallions replied with a bow and waved her forward.

A bright sunny day shined down on her as she exited the castle. Glad to see that the weather team had planned a beautiful afternoon on this weekend, Twilight happily strolled down the dirt path leading into Ponyville.

“Ok, so first I need some lunch.” Her stomach growled in response. “Yeaaah, definitely some lunch.” Heading still on her directed course into town, Twilight surveyed the skies. A momentary scan revealed what she had expected and she shook her head.

No sign of her captain of the guard. More than likely out doing faust knows what. Despite the infraction, this didn’t really bother Twilight all that much. The position was more or less formal, not too much of a guard presence was really needed in the town as due to her friends being it’s primary protectors.

However, it was rather unusual for Dash not to be flying around and about town on this kind of day. “She’s probably not even out of bed yet.” The alicorn mumbled to herself, a lopsided grin on her face as she thought of the chromatic pegasus still asleep on a Saturday afternoon. Lazy one she could be when she tried.

As the view of Ponyville came more into view, Twilight notice that the town was a little more deserted than to be expected on a Saturday afternoon. While not too much of a difference, there was a reasonably noticeable desertion about the town, with only a few ponies aside from shopkeepers really milling about.

Pondering this as she approached, Twilight couldn’t really come up with much of an answer. Lighting up her horn, she scanned the town as best she could from distance. Moments later she found her answer. For whatever reason, many of them were inside the bakery. Racking her brain gave no answer.

Deciding to dwell on that after lunch, the lavender mare, entered town. Those who she came across greeted her cordially. Noting a general air of unease around those who wandered about, twilight attributed it to them being a little nervous after the past few days.

“Not that I even blame them.” She murmured aloud. “Been some weird things going on as of late.” As she quickly trotted her way around, she came to a stop at an outdoor restaurant serving her usual lunch. Daisy sandwiches, couldn’t ever go wrong with the simplicity. The waiter didn’t even have to ask what she wanted.

Twilight chuckled. She had a reputation for being a rather punctual mare. Settling down as she ate, she rolled open her bag, producing her long list of daily activities. Quickly checking off Lunch as she munched on her sandwich, the lavender mare’s eyes scanned the next part of the list.

“Find Rainbow Dash (Good luck with that) and investigate outskirts of Everfree forest further.”

The investigation had previously been postponed after the chaos had almost driven the town into a panic. Twilight had been so caught up with making sure the town didn’t implode and getting those dragons to the nearest hospital that she had been unable to procure a thorough investigation of the mysterious area around the Everfree.

Rainbow was going to help with that, but she was the only one that could fly the dead weight to the hospital in time. The spell Twilight had cast on them hadn’t even slightly worked, that just seemed to absorb the energy. Dragons often had that effect. What an aggravating skill.

Finishing up her sandwich, Twilight rolled up the list and put it back in it’s place. Leaving a few bits in her table, the mare got on her hooves and thought for a moment. Now, where would Dash be. She supposed that if she wasn’t somewhere already in the sky she was most likely asleep.

Although, the commotion at the bakery wasn’t a bad first place to check. Nodding to herself once, twilight blinked to the front door of the bakery. A noticeable amount of noise was being made, even from the outside.

Slowly pushing the door open, the mare peeked inside to find an interesting sight. A large crowd of ponies was gathered around a pink mare standing on top of the counter, waving her hooves around in all directions as she animatedly told a story.

“...They were all firing lazers everywhere! Blasting everything with weird funky purple energy, and do you know where they got it from?!” The crowd all seemed to shake their heads, looking a little bit perturbed. The pink mare took a deep breath, making the crowd bate it’s own breath. Casting her eyes around the entire crowd several times, then she spoke “I don't know!” She said cheerfully, jumping off the counter and getting behind it once again.

The crowd gaped at her, groaning as they all realized they had been duped by the pink mare’s persistent randomness once more. Twilight rolled her eyes with a large grin on her face. Scanning the crowd she found the mare she had been looking for.

Dash leaned over the counter. “Got em good pinks!” She whispered, slapping hooves with the pink mare. Pinkie just nodded, holding in her laughter. She smiled brightly as she saw her purple friend walk up the counter.

“Hiya Twi!” The pink mare greeted, her normal bubbly tone echoing around the building. Most didn’t hear this though as they had mostly filed out of the building in muted disappointment.

“Hey.” Twilight greeted back calmly. “Sorry Pinkie, but I gotta steal Rainbow from you for a few. I’ll be back with her shortly." The pegasus in question gave her a confused glance. Before she could open her mouth, the mare behind the counter beat her to it.

She shook her head, the smile still on her face. “No problem Twilight, I’ll catch up with you two later.” With a weirdly voiced ‘ta-ta’ the bubbly mare trotted through a door at the back of the room.

Rainbow turned to her as their pink friend left. “Well that was strange. So, what’s up Twi?” The pegasus gave her the trademark smirk.

“We still have to handle the investigation of the place where the two dragons appeared.”

“Oh the one’s that nearly blew up Ponyville?” The pegasus replied with a sarcastic tone, her wings twitching reflexively.

“Yeah.” Twilight deadpanned. “Those are the one’s.”

“Hmm.” Rainbow hummed falling in step beside the Alicorn as they left the bakery. Rainbow popped off the ground hovering above the ground beside Twilight. “So, they give you anything?”

Twilight glanced at her. “Well only the girl woke up, you know, the one with the black scales?” Rainbow nodded so she continued. “Couldn’t remember much and had a bit of a stale attitude, but she said her name was Cynder.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Dragons, what is with em?” Dropping the slightly agitated stance, she perked up. “Cynder huh?” She said the word, tasting it on her tongue a few times.

“Yeah, and the purple one is Spyro.”

“Oh?” She seemed a bit more interested. “He was rather...beat up. How’d you get him to wake up?”  
“He didn’t, but Cynder told me his name. Couldn’t get much else out of her though.” Twilight seemed a bit pouty that she was being denied information and Rainbow laughed.

“They’ll have to give something eventually. It’s not like they can leave.”

“They aren’t prisoners, Dash. Once they are in better condition they can got back to where they came from.”

“What!” She exclaimed, giving the Alicorn an incredulous look. “Not criminals? They nearly blew up Ponyville and almost killed two ponies that got near them!” The pegasus scoffed.

Twilight breathed a sigh tiredly. “I know. Listen, let's just find out what we can, we’ll decide what to do about them later. For now, they are just considered hospitalized.”

Rainbow gave her a strange look. “Not sure they are gonna buy that Twi. Patients don’t usually have armed guards.”

Twilight didn’t answer. Soon enough the imposing figure of the Everfree arrived on the horizon. The forest seemed darker as of late, much more foreboding than it had ever been before. The signs of the confrontation a few days previous were still rather visible.

Craters pockmarked the immediate area around where the two dragons had first been spotted. It wasn’t a very long walk to the site, Twilight could still sense the strange magical residue from nearly a mile away. Within minutes the small dips in the ground became more common.

Closer to the site, the ground and surrounding fauna had been twisted and gnarled in unusual ways. Anything from stray trees being bent all the way 90 degree to the side, to entire patches of grass and flowers being dead or withering. Something strange was happening here.

The actual area that dragons had been spotted wasn’t very difficult to locate. A large patch of grass with blood stained into it and the dirt marked where the mortally wounded dragons had been rescued...or captured. Shaking her mind free of the slight guilt that Rainbow’s argument had made, she examined the grass in further detail.

“Dash, go see if you can find anything of interest.” The pegasus saluted and without a word took to the skies. It seemed that she knew it was time to get down to business. Twilight didn’t watch her go, instead she examined the grass intently.

The Alicorn lit her horn, plucking a few clumps of the sticky material. The dark red substance had gone well beyond drying by this stage. Twilight attuned her horn to feel around the blood itself. Blood, even very old blood contains trace amounts of magical signatures. This blood, if it’s fresh enough can be linked to magical output’s given by the pony it belonged to. The magical essence was latent, so it didn’t matter if the blood belonged to a unicorn or not.

She was having trouble here though. This blood contained nothing she was familiar with. The latent energy was there, but it was strange. Foreign. Alien.

It was obvious it belonged to one of the two dragons, but she couldn’t grasp the magical signature the blood contained. It wasn’t something her magic could lock onto. Usually when this technique is used to identify either victims or criminals, the signature is picked up from the blood and logged within the aura of the investigator, something like computer storage. While the signature wasn’t like a tracking device that will lead to somepony directly, if their aura is on file somewhere, the two can be matched.

Suspects in crimes are brought in and blood is drawn to gather the latent signatures of who it could belong to. The process is virtually impossible to trick or fake, let alone mess up. But that begged the question of why this particular signature was slipping through her grasp like sand through fingers. It wasn’t because they were dragons, that much she knew.

Spike had his aura on file. Though hard to do and often requiring a bit of effort, Twilight had no issues encompassing and capturing the signature. But this was downright impossible. It shouldn’t be possible for this to be happening. It wasn’t like she could touch it but it kept moving, it was as if she fazed through it every time she tried to grasp it. It was almost like it was in a different dimension…

The revelation made her sick. That explained everything. Their strange appearance, Cynder’s ignorance to her kind, their unusually powerful magical signatures. It explained the odd happenings that the Everfree went through that night.

It explained why Cynder seemed so reluctant to talk, to give away anything. The dragoness knew all along what had happened to her that night, yet she kept her mouth shut, not wanting to give away that her, a very powerful being from the strength of her signature and the quick nature at which she healed from her wounds, was nearly slaughtered by something she couldn't fight.

It explained why their injuries weren’t of anything this world could make. Why they seemed so abnormally terrified when they were first found. They weren’t having delusions based on some creepy thing they had seen in the Everfree by chance. They didn’t come from the Everfree. They didn't come from Equestria or the Dragon Kingdom. They didn't originate from Equis at all.

They were from a different dimension. A different reality.

And something brought them here.

Something was hunting them after arriving in the Everfree.

As if the world was trying to make her realize something was horribly wrong, an unearthly rumble resonated from within the forest right in front of her. That sound was horrible. It didn’t sound like thunder…

It was almost like….bells….and sirens.

She cast her gaze up, terrified and caught the gaze of something staring at her. It was gone the second she looked. A chill went down her spine and she took several steps back, her heart pounding in her ears. Visions flooded her head, brief scenes of catastrophe flashing through her magically sensitive mind. Screaming at the top of her lungs with magically amplified vocals for Rainbow Dash to follow her, the mare turned tail and ran off, faster than ever before.

She had just gotten herself involved in something. She was desperately hoping it wasn’t too late to back out.


End file.
